Keep Your Friends Close, But Your Family Closer
by Jercer
Summary: A mysterious woman claiming to be Sly's older sister drops by the Safe House. She says that she intends to help her brother get into the Cooper Vault, but Penelope thinks otherwise. Takes place after the Sly 3 mission, "Dynamic Duo". I got this idea from penelope fan. R&R!


**Chapter 1**

Penelope woke with a start.

She could have sworn she had heard something.

The mouse quietly reached under the bed for her sword. Her eyes searched the darkness of her room for any signs of life. She couldn't see much, especially with her vision still blurry from that powder.

"Calm down, mouse."

Penelope's head shot to the left, towards the voice she had just heard. Her grip tightened around the hilt of her blade. She had been right. There was someone else in the room, a woman by the sound of her voice. But who? And why was she there?

"Come anywhere near me and I'll detach your head from your neck," the mouse said through gritted teeth, though her insides were shaking. She knew that her weapon wasn't sharp enough to do that. Even if it was, she couldn't do much without her sight, and obviously, the intruder could see her. How else would she know that Penelope was a mouse?

The woman let out a haughty chuckle. "How do you plan to do that?" she asked, "You can't even see me."

Her voice sounded much closer than it had before. The mouse gulped. There was no point in playing her game. With her free hand, she turned on her bedside lamp.

She had to blink several times before her eyes finally focused on the form in front of her. A female raccoon stood at the foot of her bed with folded arms. The woman looked to be in her late-20s. She held a striking resemblance to Sly.

"And here I was thinking that you were stupid." Even their cocky smiles matched.

"Far from it," Penelope said, "Who are you? What do you want?"

Before she got an answer, there was an urgent knock on her door. "Penelope, is everything ok in there?" It was Sly. With his sensitive ears, he probably heard the intruder before she did.

"She's fine, Vester."

Vester?

In mere moments, the thief was through the door and on top of the woman. Penelope scrambled to her feet as Sly tackled her onto the bed. The female raccoon roughly pushed Cooper off of her, sending him to the floor. She pulled out a short metal rod. The woman squeezed it and it grew to a full-sized bo staff. Sly was on his feet with his cane ready for action.

"I don't want to fight you, Vester, but I will if I have to." Sly's smirk sat proudly on her face.

For the first time, Penelope noticed Bentley in her doorway. He had his dart gun in hand and aimed at the other woman. The mouse glanced back at her. She had seen him too. In fact, she was staring at him, in a very strange way. In a way that made Penelope's teeth clench.

"Stop calling me Vester," Sly said, "Who are you?"

The other raccoon's attention shifted back to him. "You don't recognize your own sister?"

Penelope could almost see the emotion ripple through Sly. "My sister is dead. She has been for years."

She hadn't even known that he had had a sister, and by the look on Bentley's face, neither had he. That would certainly explain a lot though. Only a Cooper could have broken into this safe house. The security here was tighter than Bentley's firewall and Murray's pants put together. The more Penelope looked at her, the more she realized how much the female raccoon really did look like Sly. Besides the cocky smile, they had the same colored eyes, the same nose, and even had a similar fighting stance.

"Hmm, I can prove that I'm your sister," she said, "Might I borrow your cane?"

"Sure, you can have it on February 30th."

"Don't worry, buddy," Bentley suddenly said, causing both raccoons to look his way, "give her a chance. If she tries anything, there will be a dart in her faster than she can blink."

Sly nodded his thanks. He held his free hand out towards his supposed-sister. "Your weapon first."

The other raccoon shrugged and shrank her staff down. "Alright, whatever you say, Vester." She tossed the nub over to him, and he tossed the cane. They caught each other's weapons at the exact same time. The intruder instantly flipped the cane over so that the "C" was on the floor.

To Penelope's surprise, she unscrewed its tip. The woman placed her thumb on the now hollow end of the cane. A few seconds passed. She grimaced and soon after, the Cooper weapon started to glow. Once it finally calmed down, Penelope's eyes widened. The cane had changed from yellow to a deep orange and it was much straighter than before, like a bow staff with a little curve in it.

Sly just stared, obviously dumbfounded. So did Bentley. In fact, Penelope was sure she looked the same way. They finally came out of their stupor when the woman threw back Sly's cane. He did the same thing she had, and the weapon returned to normal.

"Samantha, it really is you..." Sly's emotion-filled voice pricked at Penelope's heart.

She gave a genuine smile. "Actually, I just go by Sam now."

Sam Cooper. Penelope chuckled. Cute. Add Boulevard to the name and she'd be back in the Bluff City.

"But how? I mean, Clockwerk killed you the day before he got to Mom and Dad." Grief flashed in both of the raccoons' eyes.

"Thanks to the Panda King and the rest of Dad's gang, I was saved."

Sly's brief sadness turned into surprise. "The rest of his gang? Are you saying that Panda King was a part of the gang?"

On cue, Penelope saw the giant panda appear behind Bentley, along with the Guru and Murray. He wheeled the turtle out of the way, nearly giving him a heart attack, and came through the door. Penelope couldn't help but smile at Bentley's reaction. He wheeled himself to her side of the bed and gave her a weak smile. She blushed.

"Nice to see you well, Samantha," Panda King said, bowing.

Sam returned. "You too, Panda King."

Sly threw his hands in the air. "Will someone please explain to me what's going on here? Has the whole world gone mad?"

"Perhaps, I should explain things, little brother…"


End file.
